Abstract

America is known as a country on wheels. Cars penetrate every aspect of Americans’ life. Americans’ car choices changed with the development of times during their more than one hundred years of car use history. What factors will Americans consider when they choose a car? What changes happened to their choices under the impact of Economic Crisis and Oil Crisis? What changes of American social values can be reflected from their car choices? This paper will discuss the topics above.
Based on the materials concerning car choices and social values, the author tries to explore the links between the choice of cars and the American social values.
This paper consists of four parts. Part one has presented the formulation of American social values, including the definition of social values and an introduction to American traditional values; Part two has analyzed factors affecting car choices and car choices in different periods; Part three has presented the changes of social values reflected from Americans’ car choices; Part four has analyzed the causes for the changes of social values.
Through the exploration of the inner links between car choices and the American social values, the author hopes to help people get a better understanding of American social values and to provide reference for the future study.

Key words: cars; choices; social values; changes

摘  要

美国被称为是一个车轮上的国家。汽车影响着美国人生活的方方面面。在美国人一百多年的用车历史中，美国人对车的选择也是随着时代的发展而不断变化的。美国人选择汽车时会考虑哪些因素？在近年的金融危机和石油危机的影响下他们的选择又有了什么变化？这种选择的变化又能体现出社会价值观的哪些变化？本文将逐一探讨这些问题。
笔者围绕美国大众用车观念和反映的价值观这一主题收集资料，探究车辆选择的变化和美国人社会价值观的变化之间的联系。
本论文由四部分组成，第一章主要介绍美国社会价值观，包括对价值观的定义和对美国传统价值观的介绍；第二章主要对美国人购车选择进行分析，包括影响车辆选择的因素和不同年代人们都选择什么样的车；第三章主要分析从车辆选择的变化中反映出的价值观变化；第四章主要分析导致人们价值观变化的社会因素。
通过分析美国大众在车辆选择和价值观变化的内在联系，笔者希望通过本文的探讨能帮助对美国价值观感兴趣的读者更好的了解美国并为之后的研究提供理论准备。

关键词：汽车；选择；社会价值观；变化